• Strawberry Fields REIT’s 2025 Growth

    Strawberry Fields REIT reported its 2025 operating results, noting that it was the best year since its inception more than 10 year ago. The company posted significant increases in FFO and AFFO, and it completed more than $110 million in several new acquisitions. Its portfolio now includes 131 skilled nursing facilities, 10 assisted living... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Exits SNF Sector

    An independent owner/operator exited the skilled nursing sector through its divestment of Sunrise Country Manor, which has 80 beds in Milford, Nebraska, and features a mix of private and semi-private units. It maintained an 83% occupancy rate at the time of the sale. A regional operator looking to expand its footprint in Nebraska acquired the... Read More »
  • Assisted Living Providers Join Forces 

    Majestic Residences recently expanded its footprint, adding 17 assisted living communities and six in active development, through its acquisition of Avendelle Senior Living. Avendelle will be integrated into the Majestic Residences platform, with Avendelle’s corporate team retained. The combined organization will operate under the Majestic... Read More »
  • Investor Secures Financing and Acquires Class-A Community

    BWE’s Seniors Housing Capital Markets Team sold and financed The Capstone at Station Camp, which sits in the Nashville, Tennessee MSA. Built in 2021, the Class-A assisted living and memory care community comprises 100 units in Gallatin. It is operated by TerraBella Senior Living.  BWE represented the seller, Hunt Midwest. The buyer was a... Read More »
  • Multiple SNFs Sell in Separate Transactions

    A large skilled nursing company sold its 181-bed skilled nursing facility to a private investment firm based in New York, exiting South Carolina in the process. The buyer had an existing skilled nursing footprint, and will be leasing this facility to a regional operator. The building was older, built in the 1980s, and was around 80% occupied at... Read More »
New Class-A Seniors Housing Community Opens

New Class-A Seniors Housing Community Opens

Magnolia Bridge at Murrells Inlet, developed by Bourne Financial Group and operated by SRI Management, celebrated its grand opening in July after receiving its license to operate in June. Bourne is a real estate investment company specializing in seniors housing development, acquisitions, and asset management. SRI has independent living, assisted living and memory care communities throughout the Southeast. Magnolia Bridge is a Class-A community located in Murrells Inlet near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with 170 units of independent living, assisted living and memory care. The community stands four stories tall and is in close proximity to local boutiques. It has amenities such as... Read More »
Sabra Health Care REIT Stays in Good Shape

Sabra Health Care REIT Stays in Good Shape

All we can say is that Sabra Health Care REIT is fortunate to have gotten out of its joint venture with TPG and the former Enlivant portfolio. TPG bought those assets at a very low per-unit price, and Sabra bought its 49% interest from them at a very high per-unit price, more than double TPG’s price. While we understood the need to diversify Sabra’s portfolio into more private pay seniors housing, these were not the right assets. But they were available at the time, and if it worked out Sabra had an option for the remaining 51%. Even without the pandemic, we do not believe the value would have climbed to merit buying the other 51%. The buildings were small, on the old side and were... Read More »
Chartwell Retirement Residences Sees Census Gains

Chartwell Retirement Residences Sees Census Gains

Chartwell Retirement Residences, the largest operator of seniors housing in Canada, serving more than 25,000 residents in four provinces, posted a net loss in the second quarter, but same-community occupancy increased by 180 basis points year over year to 79.2%. The operating margin at the facility level increased by 120 basis points year over year to 32.7%. The loss in the quarter was mostly due to higher finance costs, higher G&A expense and negative changes in fair values of financial instruments, so not the operations. It is interesting that of the large REITs with major operations in Canada, Ventas has the best occupancy rate at 94.3% in the second quarter, up 90 basis points year... Read More »
National Health Investors Sees Improvements

National Health Investors Sees Improvements

National Health Investors turned in a mixed second quarter but appears to see more tailwinds than headwinds as it approaches 2024. They are not out of the woods with some of their providers yet, and deferrals are still a bit of a problem, but census levels are rising, margins are increasing and they are seeing some coverage ratios increasing. Investors, however, focused on a slight decrease in earnings guidance for the rest of the year and rent deferrals, sending the share price down by 6.4% after the release. The REIT’s small SHOP portfolio (15 properties) posted a nice $200,000 increase in NOI from the first quarter to $2.1 million. The operating margin increased by 170 basis points from... Read More »
NIC’s Brian Jurutka Lands at IMA Financial Group

NIC’s Brian Jurutka Lands at IMA Financial Group

The former President and CEO of NIC, Brian Jurutka, will be taking his seniors housing knowledge and talents to IMA Financial Group, a Denver-based insurance brokerage firm specializing in risk management, insurance, wholesale brokerage and wealth management.  IMA is employee owned with more than 2,000 associates across the United States. Jurutka has joined as Vice President of seniors housing with the mandate to grow IMA’s presence in seniors housing. His rolodex will certainly help him with that task.  We enjoyed working with him over the years when he was CEO of NIC and wish him continued success in our industry. Read More »
Sabra Health Care REIT Stays in Good Shape

Brookdale Senior Living Projects Growth

Brookdale Senior Living released its second quarter 2023 earnings and seemed to gush with optimism. But remember the old saying, under promise and over perform. While there was some positive news in the quarter, they still have a long way to go. The first big news was that Adjusted EBITDA increased by 60.5% over the year-ago-quarter to $81.4 million. The bad news was that this was an 8% decline from the first quarter when it was $88.6 million. Revenues increased year over year by 10.9% while facility operating expenses increased by only 3.4%. In this inflationary environment that is quite good. The company is now cash flow positive after lease and interest expense, but before capex. Other... Read More »